


Avatar: Elements of Life

by Kenliano



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Air Temple Island, Bloodbending, Gen, Water Tribe(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 08:31:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10081523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kenliano/pseuds/Kenliano
Summary: Aang and an Avatar from ancient times teach gives Korra an important lesson...





	

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfiction of the year, and the second I've written (well, completed) for the Avatar universe! I hope you like it!

She felt the water before she heard it; its gentle flow brushing against her waterbending senses. She knew she was somewhere she had never been before. These waters were unfamiliar to her. Still, she felt at ease for some reason; there was a familiar presence nearby. Maybe more.

Slowly, the darkness around her started to fade. As she had expected, a river flowed to her right, and she stood on its banks. There was a forest to her left, and the sunlight was already banishing the strange darkness.

Someone spoke behind her, and she turned to face them. “My first firebending master once told me that fire was a destructive element.”

Aang stood staring at the water, his bearded face grim, so unlike the first time she met him, and his Air Nomad cloak fluttering slightly in the wind. As if on cue, a gruff voice echoed around them:

 _“Fire will spread and destroy everything in its path if one does not have the will to control it! That is its destiny!”_

Korra followed Aang’s gaze to a partially buried boulder at the water’s edge. “Where are we?” she asked him as she turned back to him.

“We’re at the place where I learnt that lesson,” Aang breathed out. 

In that moment, a much younger Air Nomad, with his blue tattoos and orange robes, appeared on the boulder, holding a fireball in his hand: an Avatar. The young Avatar Aang. He was not alone. A girl was there, that wearing the distinctive blue of the Water Tribes. She had a hair style that was unmistakable to Korra: two locks of her hair framed her face, the ends tucked away in a bun at the back of her head. Though the woman Korra knew who wore her hair in that style had long since lost her lustrous brown, Korra instantly recognised Katara.

It was surreal seeing the events unfold. Aang, so young, carefree, and foolish, sending a ring of fire out to the waiting palms of Katara. Korra heard, though muffled as if through water, young Katara’s crying, and saw her run away as her brother tackled Aang to the ground in rage.

And then, they were gone.

“He was right, of course,” the adult Aang told Korra. But, my Master Jeong Jeong, perhaps out of guilt over his past, neglected one important fact. Fire destroys, yes, but it is not the only element that does.”

Out of the corner of her vision, Korra saw a figure standing in the river. No, _on_ the river... No, _it was_ the river, the water itself having released itself from gravity’s pull to form the rippling shape of a woman in Water Tribe garb and the glowing eyes of the Avatar State.

“He had not seen what we have seen,” this figure said, with Aang speaking in perfect sync with her.

Everything around them vanished all at once, and Korra found herself standing on a hill beside the young Aang, with Katara nearby and a wild-haired stranger encased in ice that had him pinned to a tree. She watched as a torrent of water burst forth, having been freed from its confinement, and flooded a town down below. 

Another scene was also unfolding before Korra’s eyes, overlaying the flooding of the town. A seaside settlement utterly destroyed by a huge wave that rushed in from the sea. Whose memory was that, she wondered... which Avatar’s?

“He had not done what _we_ have done,” Aang and the Water Tribe Avatar continued.

Then, Korra found herself taking in the terrifying sight of a huge fish-like monster made of water, terrorizing a frozen city, killing Fire Nation soldiers with simple swipes of its limbs. At its centre floated the young Aang, his eyes and tattoos glowing with power.

Aang continued, “Jeong Jeong saw water as the element of life. But _he_ had never met the ancient Sun Warrior people, nor learnt their ways, and could not see the life-giving power of fire.”

They were surrounded by flames. A dark shape danced against the brilliance, long and lithe, its wings pushing against the fire, sending a gush of soothing warmth over Korra’s skin. As Aang and the water figure started speaking again, the dark shape disintegrated, as if it were made of smoke.

“Yes. Life. And that is what makes it dangerous.”

Korra found herself staring at a lake then. There were warriors in armour that bore a distinct resemblance to the style of that Water Tribe soldiers wore. Leading them was that same Water Tribe Avatar, still a human-shaped mound of water. The moon hung round and bright in the cloudless sky, illuminating a town whose buildings and walkways were made of wood, and were held over the lake by stilts. 

“You have felt it yourself, Korra,” the Avatar said. “The power of water being used against you.”

“You’re talking about Tarrlok and Amon,” Korra realised. Being bloodbent was something she would never forget.

The other Avatar continued, “We were under attack. Our people had not net united into the polar nation you know. I was still learning the ways of waterbending, and had been separated from my master in the insanity. My only concern, though, was to protect my home.”

Korra saw another army appear before the warriors that stood around them, clearly Water Tribe as well. Their armour was almost exactly the same, as far as she could see, yet each side held a fury for the other that rivaled any tsunami.

The soldiers suddenly started towards each other, their feet pounding against the smooth stones of the lake’s bank. 

“In preparation for this battle, I did something that I have never forgiven myself for,” the Water Tribe Avatar said, sounding as if she were right beside Korra, even though she could Korra could see her watery form doing battle with the others some distance ahead of her and Aang. 

Suddenly, Korra found there was a lot less movement. Warriors were floating in the air, their bodies twisted in unnatural places. The Water Tribe Avatar stood with her glowing eyes in a stance very unlike the typical fluidity of waterbending. She was not alone. Her fellows were doing the same. 

Bloodbending...

“We won the battle that day,” she continued, “but at what cost?”

Many of the warriors were released from the bloodbending grip at that moment, and their bodies shattered against the ground, having been frozen solid from the inside.

“While there have certainly been other dark bending arts over the ages, bloodbending is the only one that was both discovered and mastered by the Avatar.” The invading army was retreating to the hills then, leaving their fallen (broken) comrades behind. “I tried to repent of my actions... But I could undo what had been done. Because of me, bloodbending had taken grip upon the world, and would never again let go. 

“Your master” – Korra was not sure if the had heard Aang say the words _our master_ in time with the Water Tribe Avatar – “was right to outlaw its use. No one should have that much power over another. My Avatar predecessors and I decided I should hide my skills from our line, to ensure that this power never again tainted the Avatar. My children never understood this. Nor their children’s children. In secret, they kept bloodbending alive...”

Korra gasped. “You’re Yakone’s ancestor,” she murmured. 

“Life, Korra,” the Water Tribe Avatar said, starting towards where Korra stood, walking among her army as they jumped and cheered. “ _That_ is what makes the elements the most dangerous. And the elements of life can be murderous in the hands of the Avatar.” Images flashed through Korra’s head, then. An Avatar holding on to the air into someone’s lungs, ripping holes their chest. Another causing a pair of fighters to grow so hot that they burst into flames. Another... Another...

Aang and the Waterbending Avatar spoke again, “This is why the Avatar must be human, and not just spirit. With all this power, you must be able to empathise with the people and world whose balance you have been charged with protecting. _This_ is what it means to be the Avatar. Learn this lesson well.”

***

Korra shot up out in bed, breathing hard, and drenched in sweat. The wind howled on Air Temple Island, and the full moon stared at her through the open window.

Unbidden, the words of one of her White Lotus overseers played in her mind, _“Ever since you were a little girl you excelled at the physical side of bending but complete ignored the spiritual side. The Avatar must master both.”_

Willing her heart and her breathing to slow, she lay back in bed. 

“I will,” she whispered. “I promise.”


End file.
